Clothings for flats of carding machines



Oct. 1964 A, M. A. FREITAG 3,151,362

CLOTHINGS FOR FLATS 0F CARDING MACHINES Filed June 18, 1959 2Sheets-Skeet 1 Jul X M Oct. 6, 1964 'A. M. A. FREITAG 3,151,362

CLOTHINGS FOR FLATS OF CARDING MACHINES Filed June 18, 1959 2Sheets-Sheet 2 W 1 29M M United States Patent "ice 3,151,362 CLGTHINGSFOR FLATS 0F CARDING MACI HNES Auguste Mathieu Alfred Freitag, deceased,late of Rue Bellevue 18, Lambermont, Belgium, by Antoinette MariaCornelie Lemahieu, executrix, Lambermont,

Belgium Filed .Iune 18, 1959, Ser. No. 821,159 1 Claim. (Cl. 19-114) Thepresent invention relates to clothings for flats of carding machines.

For years the so called all-steel clothing has been developed withconsiderable success for the cylinders and taker-in rollers of cardingengines which clothing consists of wire members having rigid hardenedsteel teeth directed outwards and these have proved to be comparativelysatisfactory.

In addition the so-called semi-rigid clothing has been in use for yearswhich like the other coverings are wound on the drums and taker ins inthe form of bands. The semi-rigid clothing consists of a multi-layeredcovering in which instead of round wire teeth narrow steel members withobliquely chamfered ends are inserted. The rigid ends are in contrastwith the rigid all steel clothing located resiliently in the basematerial the outer layers of which are coarser or of wider mesh than theinner layers (see Swiss patent specification 211,092).

Because of the disadvantages the use of completely resilient clothingfor flats the chief of which is the necessity for frequently strippingout the high content of good fibres from the flat clothing, attempt hasalso been made to provide the fiat with a rigid so called all-steelcovering. This however fails in practice in that the flats because ofthe great weight of the all-steel covering are subject to distortion andtherefore the distance of the drum clothing teeth from the flat clothingteeth over the whole width of the carder necessary for a satisfactoryworking of the carder cannotbe maintained.

For flat cards it is a general rule that the flat clothing must have agreater density of teeth by at least English clothing counts numbersthan the drum clothing. For this reason the flat clothing of flatcarders has hitherto an English clothing count number of 90 to 140. Sucha high count number can only be manufactured with clothing withresilient teeth of very thin wire whilst the so called semi-rigidclothings with sufiiciently stiff fiat wire teeth can be made only withconsiderably lower clothing count numbers and therefore do not come intoconsideration for the covering of flats quite apart from the fact thatbecause of the flexible mounting of the rigid teeth and the smalldistance between the fiat and the drum the drum covering is easilydamaged.

The object of the present invention is a clothing for the flats of acard comprising a band of fabric of several layers characterised in thatthe band comprises several compressed layers of rigid fabric forming abase and serving for the fixing of teeth formed of known U-shapedmembers and comprising flat metal wires the direction of the middleportions of which is parallel to that of the band and the legs of whichform the teeth having the ends chamfered at an acute angle and beingembedded so as not to bend nor curve.

Another feature is that the U-shaped members are disposed in rows and ineach of the rows the middle portions located at the back of the band aresubstantially in contact.

Thus the middle bridge portions of the U-members lying side by side withmetal to metal contact may be staggered relatively to one another in onedirection in 3,151,362 Patented Oct. 6, 1964 such a way that the rightangled legs forming the side boundaries of the middle bridge portion arestaggered as seen from underneath.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an end view of a conventional flat having a resilient cardclothing,

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 of another form of conventionalflat,

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURES 1 and 2 illustrating the flat ofthe present invention,

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary bottom plan view of the base portionof the device illustrated in FIGURE 3,

FIGURE 5 is a further enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the baseshown in FIGURE 4,

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged cross sectional view of a tooth forming a partof the invention,

FIGURES 7 to 10, inclusive, are views similar to FIG- URE 6 butillustrating various other cross sectional shapes the teeth may assume,

FIGURE 11 is an enlarged perspective view of a tooth construction inaccordance with the invention,

FIGURE l2'is a greatly enlarged fragmentary perspective view of aportion of the tooth illustrated in FIG- URE 11, and

FIGURE 13 is a view similar to FIGURE 12 but illustrating another butunpreferred form the invention may assume.

In FIGURE 1 there is shown an end view of the usual fiat on the baseplate 3 of which is mounted the base 1 of a resilient card clothing Z,by means of clamps 4 or the like.

In FIGURE 2 there is shown the same view of a fiat with all-steelclothing 5 which however-as mentioned abovebecause of the bending causedby its great weight has not progressed beyond the experimental stage andhas not been able to find any acceptance in practice.

FIGURE 3 shows the same end view of a flat in accordance with the newidea with a clothing (according to the invention) in the base 8 of whichformed of a plurality of textile layers the U-shaped teeth 6 of flatsteel wire having points 7 are inserted with metal contactof their bightportions 10.

FIGURE 4 shows the back of the base '8 of a clothing for the flat inaccordance with the invention and FIGURE 5 shows on a considerablyenlarged scale a perspective view partly in section of the baseconsisting of textile layers 11 with a rubber covering layer 12 in whichthree U -shaped teeth 9 lying against one another side by side withmetal contact of their bight portions 10 are mounted. The teeth areprovided with tapered and pointed outer end portions.

FIGURES 6-10 are, respectively, transverse cross sections of a flat wirerounded at its. .edges, of a wire of oval or double convex section, anovoid section wire, a wire of torpedo section, and a substantiallytriangular section wire.

FIGURE 11 is a perspective view of a U-shaped tooth element formed froma wire having the cross section of FIGURE 10.

FIGURE 12 is an enlarged fragmentary view of one of the tooth points ofFIGURE 11.

FIGURE 13 is a view similar to FIGURE 12 showing a tooth point formedfrom a wire of rectangular cross section.

With the resilient clothing with round wire teeth hitherto used for theflats in carding machines numbers of teeth are bent back to aconsiderable extent so that they are not in action and do notparticipate at all in the carding process. In reality only about half orless than half of the teeth actually present participate in the cardingprocess and this number during the whole working process is subjected toconsiderable fluctuations according to the amount of impurities to beseparated out of the fibre fleece located on the drum.

If the needles of the flat clothing are rigid, however, as for example,with the all steel clothing or semi-rigid as in the clothing accordingto the invention, then a more uniform cleaning and combing is ensuredbecause continuously the same number, namely an exactly predeterminednumber of teeth participate in the carding process. Thus the number ofthe teeth of a given wire count numbers actually working is quitesubstantially greater than that of the resilient clothing in general useup to the present time employing a considerably higher number undercertain circumstances as hifi as double the wire count number.

As an example the clothing count number for a fiat according to theinvention may be for instance 55 i.e.

256 teeth per square inch for a count number in the drum clothing of500-550 teeth per square inch.

The main advantages of such a card clothing for flats is that:

(1) During carding a tooth retains its power to regulate the fibres; itsaction remains consistently efficient and consequently the carding isregular; the card sliver acquires a desirable regularity.

(2) The ends of the teeth do not approach the cloth ing with which theywork in opposition. Also:

(a) Regular carding and therefore a card sliver of desirablecharacteristics is produced.

(b) It is possible to adjust the space between the clothings to a smalldistance with consequent optimum disentangling of the fibres.

In carrying out the invention the fabric base may be a homogeneouslaminated fabric made up of identical plies i.e. formed of plies of awoven cotton fabric such as white cloth having the same number of warpsand the same number of wefts in each ply.

Alternatively the fabric may be a mixture of layers of cotton and linenor hemp.

For instance, a fabric that has proved to be very satisfactory is oneformed of 5 plies of cotton and two interposed plies of linen.

As a cohering agent, use may be made of synthetic rubber or othersynthetic or plastic product. Such a mixture consists of asuperimposition of the rubber covering layers as is employed forexample'in the manufacture of pneumatic tires for motor vehiclesobtained by permanent- -tion with materials having an oil or chemicalbase capable of attacking natural rubber,

According to a further feature the teeth are formed of fiat steel wirehaving a section with at least one rounded or acute side.

The sections of the wire may be for example:

(a) A flat wire rounded at both ends (FIG. 6)

(b) A wire of oval or double convex section (FIG. 7)

(c) A wire of ovoid section (FIG. 8)

(d) A wire of torpedo section (FIG. 9)

(e) A wire of substantially triangular section (FIG. 10).

Such wires have the property of presenting a better cutting edge givingbetter opening of the fibres and presenting a sharper profile to thematerial to be carded.

The advantage of the section of FIGURE 10 is that the bevelled portion13 is terminated by a single edge 14 (F168. 11 and 12) whilst in thecase of a rectangular section the extremity comprises two right-angles15 (FIG. 13).

This application is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No.459,797, filed October 1, 1954, now abandoned.

What is claimed is:

A card clothing for the flats 0f carding engines comprising a fiatrectangular base formed of a plurality of layers of relatively strongcloth, and straight pointed teeth extending perpendicularly with respectto the outer surface of said base, each pair of teeth comprising aU-shaped wire having its bight portion extending parallel to thelongitudinal axis of and abutting the rear face of said clothing andhaving its leg portions extending through said clothing, said U-shapedwires arranged in rows at an inclination to the longitudinal axis of theclothing, said bight portions being in abutting relation to one another,said U-shaped wire being of generally isosceles triangular cross sectionwith slightly rounded fiber protecting apiece and with the smallestangle lying between the equal sides, and the ends of said legs being cutat a bias so as to provide relatively sharp points at the smallest angleapex, whereby optimal strength and point sharpness consistent with lowmass of said wire are obtained.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,095,978 Decker May 5, 1914 1,685,658 Platt et al. Sept. 25, 1928FOREIGN PATENTS 1,120,014 France Apr. 9, 1956 78,117 Germany Nov. 16,1894 81,142 Germany May 16, 1895 3,283 Great Britain of 1872 20,162Great Britain of 1911 186,006 Great Britain Sept. 21, 1922 309,986 GreatBritain Jan. 29, 1929' 772,822 Great Britain Apr. 17, 1957 375,039 ItalySept. 20, 1939

